I regularly get up a mountain and spend some time in a hut that is well off the grid. The end to modern communication is one of the reasons I spend time hiking to get up there.

Even still, lately, its been a great place get back to after a day of further marching around, to watch movies and catch up on some writing work, listen to or make some music (electronic) or hack on some code .. the point is: solar-all-the-things is actually working. There is so much energy up there... and especially on the side of a mountain.

On some spots up there, I can hang a portable water generator, and the camp will have electric heat .. a small wifi hub .. a couple miniPC's worth of movies and so on ..

So, I dunno, I think there is quite a way to avoid grid-based electricity consumption, as long as you a) have the gear, and b) are willing to go to remote places to harvest the hell out of it ..

Electricity is cut ten times a day in India. They know how to deal with that, everyone is running a generator.

Nope: solar panels, gas generators, even handcranked chargers are enough to keep a cellphone going.

But not a cellphone tower. Not covertly. And if cell towers are down, cellphones are useless.

> if cell towers are down, cellphones are useless.

The thread on the front page about HK shows that's not true.